BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's prime minister declared a state of emergency in the capital Bangkok on Tuesday after a week of political tension exploded into violent street clashes between supporters and opponents of the government that left one person dead.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A commercial airline pilot who alleges his job was threatened because his name was on a secret terrorist watch list is being allowed to resume flying, according to a letter his lawyers released Tuesday. The pilot claims he was put on the list because he is Muslim.

NEW ORLEANS - Anxious evacuees across the country clamored to come home Tuesday after Hurricane Gustav largely spared New Orleans and southern Louisiana, but were cautioned to wait for the restoration of power and other critical services knocked out by the storm.

September 17, 2008|
By ROBERT TANNER and VICKI SMITH
Associated Press Writer
|National

DETROIT - A judge on Tuesday refused to block a hearing that could force Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from office, putting the governor in control of the mayor's political fate and adding pressure on him to settle two criminal cases.

WASHINGTON - Those who love New Orleans say Hurricane Gustav is proof that the billions of dollars spent to protect the city and bring it back to life after the devastating 2005 storm season was worth it.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan prosecutors confirmed Tuesday they were pressing ahead with corruption cases against opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, a move his supporters said was aimed at further sidelining Sharif's party ahead of presidential elections.

SAHARSA DISTRICT, India - Hungry villagers rioted, desperate families swam for their lives and chaos spread across a wide swath of flooded plains in northern India Tuesday as authorities mounted one of the country's largest relief efforts.

NEW YORK - Oil prices plunged to the lowest level in five months Tuesday, falling to within sight of $100 a barrel on signs that Hurricane Gustav only grazed U.S. energy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico.

MOSCOW - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia will respond calmly to an increase in NATO ships in the Black Sea in the aftermath of the short war with Georgia, but promised that ''there will be an answer.''